Month: January 2018

It used to rain like this when my Grandma would take me for walks downtown. It was never my Grandma who’d say “you’ll catch your death of cold.” That was my Mom. And she was right, for Grandma at least. Only, it was pneumonia.

I pick up my umbrella and step out onto the avenue. I catch sight of my reflection in a puddle as I pass. The ripples make my face look much older, much more wrinkled. And, somehow, much happier. The rain is warm, and so is my Grandmother’s smile.

Rolemaster was part of what you might call the second wave of RPGs that followed D&D, and attempted to do better what D&D had already established. There were a series of supplements for Rolemaster each with “Law” in the title: Talent Law, Arms Law, Character Law. Today, I’m talking a bit about Gamemaster Law, specifically a section toward the front of the book about the Player Zodiac.

Like the astrological zodiac, the Player Zodiac attempts to categorize people into types. The difference here is that the Player Zodiac categorizes people based on how they behave at a gaming table rather than trying to predict their behavior based on their birth sign. Thus, it is a lot more practical, insofar as it actually does work and is useful.

Personally, I think there’s something deliciously specialized about a category system so specific to a single activity (roleplaying, in this case). It says something about roleplayers, and geek culture in general, that we get along best through using systems to understand these alien creatures called “Hoo-mans”.

“All of these people come here everyday,” said Michel. “They pour their emotions into the art. They love, or they hate, or they are overcome with nostalgia. Do you think those emotions just vanish when they are released? Where do you think they go?”

Michel had been trying to convince me for over an hour that the glass pyramid was a lens for emotional energy, and could focus and channel it into whatever wish your heart desires.

“Fine,” I said, trying to think of the most unlikely thing I could wish for. “Then I wish it to snow in July.”